Toast Stencils

Toast is great! So here's a way to make it even funner for kids... Make fun/interesting shapes on toast using paper to mask where margerine is spread.

Anywhere margerine is applied before toasting leaves a void afterwards.

Inspired by this instructable I wanted to do something with a similar result without the need for potentially dangerous modifications to toasters.

Fancy trying it? Post a picture of your stencilled toast to win a 3 month pro membership.

You will need:

• white bread (gives better contrast than brown)
• margerine (I've not tried butter yet, spray oil is rubbish!)
• paper
• a pencil
• a knife for spreading
• a knife/scissors for cutting
• various other drawing implements (cutting mat, protractors, compasses, rulers, stencils as you see fit)

I wasn't sure what would work for what I wanted to do so I set out to see what gave the best contrast and detail.

I found that margerine with white bread gives a very nice clear line. I also tried brown bread which didn't work out very well since the contrast wasn't so good.

Olive oil spray which I thought might be applied easier didn't give such a good picture (or taste) since it was harder to apply it as thickly and the spray ran under the stencil once applied, losing edge detail.

Gather your drawing, cutting and spreading implements.

Any shape that hasn't got too much detail works well. I would advise starting with a circle and square or two and then branching out to flowers, hearts, popular icons or anything you can think of that isn't toooooo detailed.

I started out with Pacman and his friendly ghosts before my housemate turned up and liked the idea of a sun. He's a simple yet recognisable shape and so easy to do!

Lay your stencil onto your bread.

Spread the margerine inwards, starting on the paper and moving onto the bread so that you get as sharp a line of marge as possible. Spreading in the opposite direction will give a blury line.

Spread it nice and thick. The margerine will stop the bread toasting and leave a lighter patch.

Pop it under the grill until you've got good contrast between the light and dark areas.

Here are the results of the designs I tried.

The Pacman and friends came out well, the details on the bottom of the ghosts could have been better.

The sun lost some definition, which was sharpened up by scraping with a knife.

I'd love to see what others come up with. Please post a photo or two if you try this and I'll add them to this step and send you a pacman toast patch.

Some ideas:

• hearts
• flowers
• letters (spell my name in toast and I'll send you a 3 month free membership)